Funding for Blackstone Accelerates Growth is up in the air as the Maine entrepreneurship program reaches the end of the initial $3 million it received from an out-of-state charitable group.
The Portland Press Herald reported that it’s unclear if New York City-based Blackstone Charitable Foundation will invest any further into the Maine Technology Institute program beyond 2015. But Operations Manager Martha Bentley told the newspaper that alternative funding sources are now being explored. Jess Knox, the program’s statewide hub coordinator, said an announcement about a new sustainable model could be made soon.
Blackstone Accelerates Growth, which was first announced in 2011, has helped expand the Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development’s Top Gun program. In addition, it was responsible for creating the Accelerated Ventures program, the Innovate for Maine Fellows program and Maine Startup and Create Week, which debuted last year.
Source:Â Portland Press HeraldÂ
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